&8S 



.J77 



Copy 1 KANSAS CONTROVERSY, 



SPEECH 






OF 



HON. GEORGE W. JONES, OF IOWA, 



DELIVERED 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, APRIL 16, 1856. 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 

1856. 



J7 



KANSAS CONTROVEUSY. 



The PRESIDENT. The question is on the motion of 
tlie Senator from iowti [Mr. Jones] to reconsider tlie vote 
postponing until Monday next the bill (S. No. 172) author- 
izing the people of Kansas Territory to form a eonslitution 
and State government when they have the requisite popu- 
lation. 

Mr. JONES, of loM-a, said: 

Mr. President: An imperative duty urges me 
for the first time during the period of my service 
as a member of the Senate, to tax its patience by 
attempting more than a few brief remarks upon 
matters immediately connected with my puohc 
and official duties. And permit me to say, I now 
regret that circumstances have impelled me to 
deviate somewhat from the rule which I have 
hitherto imposed upon myself, for the reason that 
upon subjects of a general import, I have always 
found Senators better informed than myself, or 
more able to present the views we hold in com- 
mon, than 1 could pretend to be. My colleague, 
on the 27th of Inst month, gave to the Senate his 
views upon the aflairs in Kan.sas, and the various 
considerations arising therefrom; — those views 
have been laid before the people of the Union; 
they do not reflect the opinions nor the feelings 
of a large majority of the citizens of the State of 
Iowa; and therefore I have conceived it to be my 
duty to attempt, in a plain way, to refute and 
exhibit the fallacy of his statements and views, 
and present what! conceive to be a more correct 
exhibition of the opinions of the people of Iowa 
than he has given; and in doing this I trust I shall 
not depart from a becoming deference to the eru- 
dition of my colleague as a professor of natural 
science, a theologian, and a lawyer, in all of which 
capacities he has distinguished himself; and has, 
in a contest hke that which now occupies the 
Senate, a decided advantage over me — unless, 
indeed, my disadvantages are more than made 
equal by the truth and justice of the side which 
1 have espoused. 

After indulging in an expression of his opinion 
relative to the conduct of the President, and the 
manner in which he has discharged his duties 
touching the disturbances in Kansas, my col- 



league presents a very partial view of the cause 
which produced those disturbances. It is not in- 
cumbent upon me to attempt, in this place, to reply 
either to his opinions of the Presicient, or to his 
impressions of the occurrences in Kansas — both 
his opinions and impressions, I am sorry to say, 
seem to have been produced by improper excite- 
ment, by prejudice, or by an inordinate desire to 
build up a sectional party opposed to the national 
Democracy of the Union; but, whatever may have 
produced them, I will leave them to the opera- 
tion of time and facts, and such conscientious 
investigation as my colleague may find leisure to 
make in his future public career. 

The President and the Kansas disturbances 
having been disposed of by my colleague, to his 
entire satisfaction, he in the next place proceeds 
to prove, by a tremendous array of historical 
facts, that the Congress of the United States pos- 
sesses, constitutionally, legally, and necessarily, 
complete and sovereign power to legislate for the 
local matters and wants of all citizens who may 
become residents upon the territory of the Unionj 
and, moreover, that having this undoubted power, 
it is the imperative duty of Congress to exercise 
it immediately for the sole pui-pose of excluding 
all who own slaves, and preventing our fellow- 
citizens of the southern States from emigrating to 
Kansas, and taking with them their negro ser- 
vants — and thus, as he says, preventing the shed- 
ding of blood and civil war among the present 
occupants. The facts adduced to show, or for 
the purpose of showing, that this power is lodged 
in the Congress of the United States, I have desig- 
nated as tremendous, not because of their weight, 
but in consequence of the vast space they occupy 
in the Globe— I mean the Globe of Mr. John C. 
Rives. If the facts, quotations, and occasional 
argument of my colleague upon this portion of 
the subject are to be estimated by their lenj;th, 
they maybe truly termed tremendous, and he 
must be a patient man who will even attempt to 
allude to them seriatim. 1 cannot venture upon 
the task; yet I will try to dispose of my colleague's 
argument in a plain, brief, and pracucal manner. 



The labors of my colleague to sustain the 
important power which he claims for Congress, 
consists in collecting the captions and dates of 
the acts that have been passod from time to time, 
giving to the people of the suveral Territories a 
form of territorial government; and he infers, 
from the fact that these acts have been passed , and 
that they have contained, sometimes, provisions 
relative to negro bondage, that Congress has full 
power to legislate for the people of the Territo- 
ries " tJi all cases whatsoever. Indeed, my col- 
kague claims for the General Government, or for 
Congress, greater powers than were even dreamed 
' of by the most ultra Federalist that Uved in the 
days of the elder Adams. That I may not be 
charged with injustice towai'ds him, 1 will quote 
from his published speech: 

" The Goveriiincnt of the United States.acqiiired all her 
rights in"" the Floridas from Spain ; in the Louisiana Terri- 
tory from France. The United States was the successor of 
each of these. \Vhatever the original sovereign of each of 
these might have done within its limits, while a part of liis 
doimnione, miglu be done by his successor." 

Again, speaking of Louisiana Territory, he 
says: 

" It was a part of the dominions of France ; she was its 
absolute sovereign. Hence the Government of the United 
States must have succeeded to the same unrestricted rights; 
and m<iy hold, exercise, and enjoy them, until she chooses 
to conferthemon anolliersovereignty. If France, previous 
to the cession, could have excluded slavery from Kansaa 
and Nebraska, this Government may do so now." 

It will be seen from the.se quotations that my 
colleague has completely ignored the Constitution 
of the Republic, which limits and defines the 

Eowcr of the Government and Congress over all, 
oth people and property, persons and things. I 
do not feel that it is necessary to comment upon 
the novel political doctrine of my colleague— its 
bare enunciation to all who have read the Con- 
stitution of our country, or who are imbued with 
the spirit of our free institutions, is its refutation; 
and I am at a loss to conceive by what process 
of reasoning my colleague has persuaded him- 
self that all the powers possessed by Spain and 
France over Florida and Louisiana could be ex- 
ercised by the Government of the United States 
over both ;jeo;)Ze and property, on their cession, 
and during the period they remained as Terri- 
tories, Can a monarchy, a despotic power, confer 
upon our Government, regulated by a written 
Constitution, monarchical and despotic powers 
over aTerritory, by the mere cession thereof for 
an equivalent? The question seems absurd; 
and yet my colleague would appear to give an 
affirmative answer, and to deny the flict that the 
Constitution of our country immediately covers 
and protects from despotic power the territory and 
the people which may be annexed to our Repub- 
lic, either by purchase or by war. 

Mr. President, I deny that the live columns of 
references, &c., made by my colleague to the le- 
gislation of Congress on the subject of Territorial 
governments, furnish evidence of that plenary 
power which he claims for this body to legislate 
for the citizens of the United States who may set- 
tle within the Territories — his chronological array 
of the statutes organizing forms of government 
for the citizens of the Territories, serves but 



to show the periods at which the National Legisla- 
ture answered the wishes, the petitions, or the me- 
morials of the people of the several Territories 
asking for those forms. But my colleague appears 
to have perstiaded himself that a compliance, on 
the part of Congres.s, with these wishes or memo- 
rials, is a sufHcieni evidence of its ])ower to do, 
here in Washington, all the needful legislation 
for the people of the Territories. Now, sir, the 
entire history of all the Territories shows that 
the Congress of the United States has never as- 
sumed the power of interfering with the right, and 
the exercise of self-government by the citizens 
resid i.g in the Territories, and coufurming to the 
Constitution and the general laws otthe Republic. 
Perhaps, however, I should not say that Congress 
has never interfered with this right of self-govern- 
ment, for there is a single exception — one that 
has entailed embarrassments upon our country, 
and which impartial history will point at as one of 
the gravest and most dangerous errors which has 
so far marked the career of this Heaven-favored 
land. lallude to that provisionof tlielawof 1820, 
called the Missouri compromise — a'n interference 
uncalled for, unwished for by the j)eople of Mis- 
souri, or by the citizens of any other Territory — 
an assumption of power not given by the Con- 
stitution to Congress, either directly or by impli- 
cation, and the exercise of which was an infringe- 
ment upon the rights which one ludf the States oi 
the Union had, as joint owiiers, in the vast ter- 
ritory ceded to this Republic by France — an 
infringement and a wrong of too long standing — 
a usurpation of power too long unacknowledged 
by the National Legislature — an injury and an 
unconstitutional assumption, unredressed and 
persevered in, until the passage of the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill. 

I repeat, Mr. President, the Congress of the 
United States has not attempted to legislate for 
the local wants of the people in the Territories, 
but has left that legislation to the people them- 
selves, even when they were without the usual 
form of goverimient prescribed or framed by Con- 
gress on their petitions. And, sir, it is in my 
power to present to the Senate times and circum- 
stances when, if Congress had tlie power and 
the right to interfere, it became its imperative duty 
to do so, and pass laws for the local government 
of the people of the Territory of Iowa. I allude 
to the period embraced by the years 1833-'34, 
and '35. In li'3'2 the Indian country, embracing 
the lead region of Dubuque, was ceded to the 
United States by the Indians claiming it, and the 
treaty with them was ratified during the following 
session of Congress. Previous to this period the 
citizens of the United States were prevented from 
settling in the Territory. Some attempted it for 
the purpose of mining, but, on the complaints of 
the Indians, the intruders were removed by a 
military force, under the command of the present 
able Secretary of War, then a lieutenant in the 
United States Army, who performed tlie delicate 
and responsible duty in a manner so appropriate 
and conciliatory, that to this day he is held in 
grateful remembrance by all the old pioneers then 
in that portion of the country. In June, 1833, 
Iowa was opened to our citizens, and the indus- 
trious miners and farmers were invited to try 
their fortunes in the new region. In a few months, 
the spot on which now stands the beautiful and 



prosperous city of Dubuque, and the adjacent hills i 
and valleys, containod a host of strong, hardy, | 
and enterprising men. The population, in three j 
inontlis from the time the country was opened to , 
the settlers, numbered two or three thousand ; and 
yet, sir, these citizens were destitute of a form 
of government — destitute of ajudi-iary — destitute 
of all law for the punishment of cranes, or for ! 
the regulation of business between man and ! 
man, save what they themselves made as their 
necessities and circumstances di'manded, and 
which they did make by and through their right! 
of self-government as a community of American j 
citizens. 

On the approval or ratification of the treaty 
with the Indians, Congress had neglected to at- 
tach the ceded country, for judicial purposes, to [ 
any adjoining Slate or Territory where a judi- 
ciary existed; and the nearest judicial power con- \ 
sequently refused to take cognizance of crimes i 
committed in Iowa. There were, at that time, 
some bad and desperate men among the people, 
who believed that in the absence of a government, 
and the restraints of statute law, they could safely 
indulge their wayward passions. In their quar- 
rels they shed the blood of good and peaceful 
citizens; and to insure safety to the well-disjiosed, 
and to punish the criminal, the people resorted 
to their inlierent right of selt'-government. They 
elected judges, and the necessary officers to exe- 
cute the law. The usual forms for the trial of 
the accused were adhered to; the usual punish- 
ment awarded to the willful murderer was admin- 
istered; and I have never yet heard from any 
person who was conversant with the occurrences 
in those times, an opinion adverse to the right of 
the people to do what they found it necessary to 
do for the sake of peace and security. This state 
of things continued for two or three years — was 
known from one end of the Union to the other — 
and yet the Congress of the United States could 
not discover that it had any power to legislate for 
the local wants of the people of Iowa; and for 
the plain reason, as we may well suppose, that 
the power could not be found in the Constitution 
whicli each Senator and Representative had bound 
himself by oath to support, and that it was, there- 
fore, among those powers which remained with 
the people. It cannot be shown that Congress, 
in a single instance, has imposi;d upon the people 
of a Territory a form of government adverse to 
their wishes, their petitions, or their interests. 
On the contrary, these forms have been given in 
accordance with their wishes, and often upon 
their urgent petitions; and always in aid of the 
exercise of that very right of self-government 
which my colleague denies to them. 

It would seem that every Congress which has 
been elected since the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion has, with a single exception, avoided the 
assumption of the power to legislate for the local 
wants of the people settled upon the territory of the 
Union; and it may also be safely maintained, that 
no American citizen, residing in any of the Ter- 
ritories, ever believed that the Congress of the 
United States possessed the power to regidale 
anything more than the disposition of the public 
lands and other public property within the bound- 
aries of the Territory in which he had fixed his 
residence; he never believed that Congress had 
tlie power to regulate him, or to tax him for any 



local purpose whatever; to pass laws for the col- 
lection of debts, for the punishment of offenses, 
for the building of school-houses, &c., &c.; all 
powerfor the regulation of these matters he know.i 
and feels to be in himself — deposited or left with 
him by the Constitution of our common country. 
Even during what was termed the first grade of 
territorial government under the ordinance of 
1787, the people residing in the then extensive 
Territory of Michigan did not feel that they were 
deprived of any of the benefits or rights which 
they could have enjoyed from the most free ex- 
ercise of self-government wliich the Constitution 
of our country guaranties. Practically they had 
all those benefits; for the Governor and judges, 
in whom was lodged the legislative powei-of the 
country, made it a rule to conform to the wishes 
and wants of the people in the adojition of laws; 
and so well satisfied were they with their condi- 
tion, that in 1818 or 1819, when they met at De- 
troit in mass meeting to consider the expediency 
of entering into the second grade of territorial 
government, a considerable majority was found 
opposed to the measure. When any provision of 
law, found in the statutesof any of the States, wa.s 
deemed by the people to be necessary for their 
well-being, they embodied it in a jiclition, and 
asked its adoption with a certainty of the success 
of their application. 

A year or two after their first meeting the peo- 
ple again assembled at Detroit to consider their 
form of government. A debate occurred, which 
extended to considerable length, upon, the ques- 
tion, whether they should or should not proceed 
to elect a legislative body without th.c interven- 
tion of Congress, or without first memorializing 
Congress for a form of government. The ques- 
tion was decided by a vote in favor of the latter 
course, and on the ground, mainly, that, by ob- 
taining an organic act from Congress, the people 
of the Territory would avoid the expense of main- 
taining their Legislature; a burden which, at that 
time, they did not feel willing to assume. But, as 
I am well informed, no citizen who took a part 
in the debate questioned the right of the people 
to proceed without the intervention of Congress. 
I might also direct the attention of my colleague 
to the history of Oregon, for the purpose of show- 
ing him the fallacy of his opinions relative to the 
rights and powers of American citizens in the 
Territories of the Union, and how widely their 
views upon that subject differ from liis own. He 
will find that the citizens of that Territory had a 
law-making power, and the other attributes of 
a government for two or three years before they 
asked of Congress an organic act. Rut the rec- 
ords of Congress do not exhibit a resolution or a 
speech calling in question this proceeding of the 
people of Oregon. 

Mr. President, if it be true that American citi- 
zens are not deprived of the right of self-govern- 
ment by bi'coming residents in our Territories — 
if the Constitution has withheld from Congress 
the power to enact laws to regulate their internal, 
local, and domestic afi'airs, and has left that power 
with the people, then the Kansas-Nebraska act ia 
a just and necessary law, whatever may be the 
result of its passage to the country — to the able 
and patriotic men who have taken the lead in 
bringing it forward, and supporting its principles 
— or to those, whatever may be Iheir object, who 



have waged war against it. Having passed many j 
years of my life in the Territories of the Unio)i, 
I long ago adopted the principles of that act; and 
cannot sufficiently express my astonishment that 
my colleague, who has been favored with oppor- 
tunities to discover the impracticability, not to ; 
say iinpoasibilitj', of a practical demonstration ] 
of his doctrines against those princi]i]es, should 
have deemed it incimilient upon him to present : 
views to this honorable body so hostile to the i 
spirit of onrfree institutions, and so much opposed 
to the sentiments of the liberal people of the State 
we represent. | 

Mr. President, there is another topic upon ^ 
which my colli'ague deemed it his duty to ex-] 
patiate largely, and in doing so, misrepresented, 
as 1 conceive, the opinions and feelings of a large ] 
majority of the people of Iowa. In a labored 
argument he has end(^avored to prove, and per- 
haps has convinced iiimsclf, that the negro race 
have all the physical and mental attributes of 
the white man; and that those attributes have 
only been depressed and remained undeveloped 
by the long period of servitude to which the 
race has been subjected. This conclusion of 
my colleague seems to have been attained by a 
careful examination of the negro's physical char- 
acteristics; and he has presented several facts 
on which he grounds his belief of the negro's 
mental qualities, the existence of which cannot be 
doubted, while their value as evidences of the 
mental capacity of the African race may well be 
questioned. My colleague lias ascertained, and 
he asserts, with all the gravity of full conviction, 
that the negro, in common with the white man, 
loves to eat food and to masticate it; that he loves 
to smell fragrant odors; that he likes to touch 
things which give him jilcasure in touching; that 
he likes to look on beautiful things, and hear 
good music; that the negro has love, hope, fear, 
and hate; envy, jealousy, and revenge; memory, 
imagination, and belief; has a love for his father, 
brother, and child; has humanity, patriotism, 
and piety. 

Now, with a single exception, it may be admit- 
ted that the negro has given evidence that he pos- 
sesses, in a degree, the senses, susceptibilities, or 
emotions of which my colleague has given a cat- 
alogue; and yet I cannot permit him to persuade 
me that God, in His providence, has imparted to 
the African race to which our slaves belong, the 
same mental qualities or capacities that He has 
given to the white man of Europe and America. 
The eiwceplion to which I have alluded, is the 
emotion orsentiment of patriotism, as that feeling 
is understood by the citizen of our Republic, the 
Englishman, the Frenchman, or the German. I 
have never heard of a trait of character exhibited 
by an African tribe, or an individual of a tribe 
or of the race, which denoted the possession of 
that unselfish and exalted emotion; and there is 
reason to believe that no negro has yet felt the 
sentiment, unless it lia.s recently been developed 
by some of those who now constitute the colony 
at Liberia, and who were liberated from bondage 
in our southern States on account of their good 
conduct and their capacity. If exemption from 
bondage, the example of the white race, and the 
capacity to read books, is only wanting to enkin- 
dle in the bosom of th.e negro the spark of patri- 
otism and I he love of liis race and pride of nation- 



ality, why is it that the Fred Douglasses who are 
found in the free States, do not come forward and 
aid in building up, in the country which God has 
assigned to their race, a free and intelligent nation? 
Why do these educated descendants of Africa 
linger in this land, in which even their best friends 
cannot and will not admit them to an equality, 
either social or political, instead of hastening to 
the aid of the handful of their brethren who are 
now toiling in Liberia for the redemption of the 
African race from the most abject barbarism, and 
the most stupid ignorance and idolatry ? 

It seems to me that a satisfactory solution to 
this inquiry can only be found in the faet that the 
Almighty, in his infinite wisdom, and for a good 
purpose, yet hidden to man, has closed the hearts 
of these favored sons of Africa to all those sublime 
emotions which are necessary to produce true 
patriots and pure statesmen — men who glory in 
advancing the happiness and intelligence of their 
countrymen and the good ofthe human race. Their 
hearts seem closed; and they exhibit no affection, 
no enthusiasm for the glorious i7nterprise which 
great and good men have opened to them in Africa. 
This alone, if there were no other facts, is a 
strong proof that there is a vast difference in the 
mental organization or capabilities of the negro 
and the white man. 

Mr. President, in the discussion of the question 
of the equality of races, which my colleague, I be- 
lieve, has been the first to introduce to the notice 
of the Senate, he seems to have volunteered his 
aid to our political Abolitionists with an alacrity 
which indicates his consciousness of great jiow- 
ers to defend his position. Without inquiring 
into the propriety or necessity of the discussion, 
at this time and m this place, I shall endeavor to 
show that there are established facts which prove 
the unsoundness of his views; but, in doing so, 
I cannot avoid feeling a kind of embarrassment 
produced by a comparison, unfavorable to my- 
self, of the profound scientific, theological, and 
legal attainments of my colleague, with my own 
humble pretensions. It is known to the Senate 
that I am a plain, practical man, and have passed 
my public life here in practical legislation, enter- 
tainmg and encouraging no doctrines nor opinions 
which are revolting to the instincts of honest 
common sense, or opposed to those deductions 
which are drawn from the truth of history. I 
must then oppose this common sense and those 
deductions to my colleague's scientific, theologi- 
cal, and legal researches. 

In my limited historical reading I have failed 
to find any fact to sustain the opinions and belief 
of my colleague, that the negro race are created 
I equal in powers of mind with the while. More 
j than a thousand years before our bar!)arian an- 
cestors received an impulse towards civilization 
j by contact with tlie Romans, the negro of Africa 
! had had the advantage of observing the most ad- 
i vanced and refined nations which then existed. 
i He saw the learning and genius of Egypt, the 
i refinement of Persia, the wisdom and glory of 
[ Greece and of Rome, long before the barbarous 
I tribes of Britain, our ancestors, emerged fr.MTi their 
I darkness by aid of the light which was held up 
I to them by the men born on the banks of the 
i Tiber. For a time extending further back thim 
I is noted upon the historic page, the negro has 
: beheld the light of civilization — but he has not 



followed it; and in his native land, the tribes who 
have given slaves to Europe and America, are now 
what they have ever been. It would seem, in- 
deed, that these tribes are the veritable descend- 
ants of Ham, cursed in his son Canaan by the 
Almighty, driven out from tlie presence of his 
father with the vengeance of God marked upon 
liis brow, and doomed to be the servant of ser- 
vants forever. 

Mr. President, it is a truth that nature, in the 
munificence of her economy, withholds nothing 
from her children needful to their welfare; and 
we find that she has not bestowed upon the negro 
raceasolitary historical character — not one. Tliat 
race have had no poet to ptn-petuate their history 
i — they have no history. The' Greek, the Roman, 
the English, and many otlier nations, whose his- 
tory can be traced back to barbarism and idolatry, 
have given to the world poets, statesmen, moral- 
ists, philosophers, mechanics, and inventors, 
whose labors are imninrtal. The black tribes of 
Africa have given nothinguseful nor brilliantfrom 
the mental mine — and to this day they are the 
same stupid idolators that they were found to be 
when first visited by the Christian missionary; 
worshiping leaks, onions, snakes, and filthy in- 
sects, and looking upon the ourang-outang as the 
Jupiter of their less(n- deities. The race has no 
history, except that of the providence of God, 
written by his servants, marking it out as the 
victim upon which the nations of the earth have 
alternately glutted their revenge and satiated their 
thirst for gain. At this time they are in a state 
of deeper degradation than any of the heathen 
nations of the earth. Without even the instincts 
of decency, they wander ungoverned, naked, and 
as filthy in their persons as the brute. This has 
been, and is now, their condition in their native 
country ; and all the efforts of Christianity for their 
beni'fitand enlightenment have been abortive. No 
individuals of the race have advanced a single step 
from their degradation and darkness, except those 
who were placed in the condition now occupied 
by them in the southern States. Here the gospel 
of Christ is elevating his hopes and illuminating 
his soul. Tlius much for the history of the race 
as I have read it. 

My colleague having convinced himself of the 
mental equality of the negro and white man, 
appeals to the obligations of Christianity to pro- 
tect the slave in his weakness. These obligations, 
in all their force, I recognize; nor will I seek any 
other authority for their exposition than the Lord 
Jesus Christ liimself, and the great apostle of the 
•Gentiles, who governed the church where slavery 
existed without any intermediate condition of 
servitude. Among the Romans the pcojile were 
of two classes — freemen and slaves; and recog- 
nizing the condition of master and slave as the 
natural result of the imperfections of human gov- 
ernment, (the incapacity of the slave inducing 
his subjection,) the apostle enforced these social 
re!a ions before slavery was enacted bylaw. The 
Gospel interposes not to abolish the relation, but 
to clearly indicate the duty of the master. Paul, 
in one of his letters to the Corinthians, writes 
thus: 

" Let cverj' man abide in the same calling wherein he was 
called. Art tliou culled, being a servant, care not for it? but 
if thoa mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is 



11 called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's free-man: 
I likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's ser- 
vant." 

And in the letter to the Ephesians: 

" Servants, be obedient to thcni that are your masters 
according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in single- 
ness of your heart, as unto Christ ; not with eye service, as 
men-pleas<'rs, hut as the servants of Christ, doing the will 
of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to 
the Lord, and not to men; knowing that whatsoever good 
thing any man doetli, the same shall he receive of the Lord, 
whether he be bond or free. And, ye masters, do the same 
things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that 
your Master also is in lieaven ; neither is their respect of 
persons witli liim." 

These are the commands of God's law by the 
servant and minister, and law interpreter of God 
himself, and are but two of many similar quota- 
tions which might be adducf(l. But, sir, I ani 
not a theologian, and may not properly under- 
stand these plain admonitions of ecclesiastical 
law; yet they appear to be opposed to the 
doctrines and results which would flow from the 
views of my colleague on the equality of the races. 
If ho means simply to condemn cruel masters, I 
will say to him that such men are abhorred by 
every Senator on this floor. Does he require 
that the negro shall have the benefit of religious 
instruction? 1 rej)ly, nowhere have the descend- 
ants of the African race been led to the altar of 
Christianity so successfully as in the slave States: 
nowhere else, among the colored race, are the 
morals of Christianity held in such saci'ed regard 
as in those States. 

Does my colleague mean to intimate that the 
political equality of the negro with the white man 
is conceded, or ever has been conceded, in tlic 
formation or during the continuance of this Gov- 
ernment .' If he does, I deny it — I deny that the 

; Declaration of Indopimdence {caches this equality. 
It is true, that instrument says that " all men are 
born free and equal." That declaration must be 

, interpreted by its cotemporaneous history, (t 
did not, even in these general terms, include the 
negro. The words cannot be tortured into that 
meaning if regard be had to the truth of history. 
The negro was at that time a slave in, I believe, 

[ every State. That sami' l;inguage is repeated in 

' the Bill of Rights of nearly every State in the 

; Union, where slavery then existed, and where it 
now exists. The slave trade itself was continued 
by the consent of the General Government for 
several years afterwards. This was the beginning 
of the icliite man's government. The icliitc man 
protested against the usurpations of the parent 
Government— the wliiti' man rebelled against her 
authority — the loldte man triumphed over her 
power, and threw off her yoke — the white man 
made peace and formed the Constitution of 
the Government under which we live — and the 

: white man has administered the Government from 
that day to this; and will my colleague, in the 
face of these fads, argue that the fathers of the 
Republic acknowledged the equality of the races,' 
Whenever a negro or mulatto in time of war has 
risen above his condition as a slave, and haa 
borne arms in the service of the country, he has 

I been awarded or relieved by special leg slation — 



» 



which more than iniplii's th;it he was not included 
ill the general legishxtion of the country. 

But if my colleague would imply by hia argu- 
ment, or desire to have it believed, that negroes 
have a political equality, inany sentJC of the word, 
in Iowa, he does great injustice to the good sense 
and propriety of h<'r citizens. By the constitu- 
tion of the State;, all negroes and mulaitoes are 
excluded from tin- right of suftVage. The second 
article, on the right of suffrage, provides that 
"jc/ii/e male citizens'' only shall be entitled to 
vote. And by the law of the State, chapter 130, 
it is provided that " every hiiinaii being of suffi- 
cient capacity to understand the obligation of an 
oath is a competent witness in all cases, both 
civil and criminal, excejil as herein otherwise de- 
clared. But an Indian, a negro, a mulatto, or 
black person, shall not be allowed to give testi- 
mony in any cause wherein a white person is a 
party." 

My colleague must be conversant with these pro- 
visions, and he must also be aware that it is against 
the law of Iowa for a free negro to come into the 
State. He ought to know, too, that these laws 
reflect the opinions of the people of the State at 
this time, for, during the session of the very Legis- 
lature by whose proceeding my colleague claims 
a seat in this body, an effort was made to repeal 
these provisions of law, but proved a most al3or- 
tivc failure. Even an anli-Nebraska-Abolition 
Legislature would not venture the repeal of what 
are called the black laws of the State. Though 
labor was in great demand, and domestics could 
scarcely be had at any price, an abolition Legis- 
lature, with all their unextinguishable fires of 
sympathy, would not allow negroes to emigrate 
to Iowa, or exercise the right of suffrage, or to 
even give testimony in a case where their most 
Siicred rights might be involved, against a white 
man. Even my colleague's political friends, in 
the zeniih of their power — in the heat of their 
zeal — in the first exercise of legislative benevo- 
lence — refused to grant the negro any political 
rights whatever; and they did deny to the whole 
race, by solemn acts of legislation, what my col- 
league has asserted in unequivocal terms — the 
equality of the black mail and the while man. His 
own party has rejected his doctrine in his own 
State; and that the sentiments of the people of 
Iowa may not be misrepresented, I have tres- 
passed upon the patience and time of the Senate 
to-day. 

I will not attribute to my colleague a desire to 
establish by his argument a social equality be- 
tween the black and white races: that would be 
shocking— loathsome. I am willing to accord to 
him all that is due to a gentleman occupying a 
seat on this floor, and give to his doctrine the 
most charitable construction of which it is .sus- 
ceptible. Nor do I wish to suppose that my col- 
league has assumed his present singular position 
from a desire to amuse himself and the Senate by 
what he may have conce-ived to be an innocent 
display of learning and research. Such recre- 
ation might prove to be the madman's leap for 
fame over Niagara's cataract, gaining his fearful 
landing-place to be buried in the depths of its 
whirlpools. 

It will not be expected of me, Mr. President, 
to defend the President of the United States from 
the attacks and censures of my colleague. My 



feelings towards the President, I am proud to 
say, are of the most friendly and respectful kind; 
and they have been produced by a constant and 
impartial observance of his public career, from 
the time he occupied a seat, first in the other and 
then in this body, from 1835 up to this day. 

His patriotism, integrity, firmness, and en- 
lightened statesmanship, boih as a law-maker 
upon the floors of Congress, and as Chief Magis- 
trate of the Confederacy, are vindicated by his 
record, and he may proudly and confidently refer 
the charges heaped up against him by fanaticism 
and sectionalism to the verdict of his country- 
men and of impartial history. His administra- 
tion has been marked by the most serious trials 
and the most sph'iidid triumphs; quei^tions of 
diplomatic difnculty have been treated with a 
degree of wisdom, candor, and firmness which 
has placed the country, in all its controversies 
with other nations, in an impregnable position, 
defended by justice, self-respect, and moderation. 
Domestic embarrassments, arisingoutof sectional 
agitation, directed against the Constitution and 
against the equality of the States of the Union, 
and rendered more furious and determined by the 
attempt to return to constitutional and just prin- 
ciples in the enactment of the Nebraska-Kansas 
bill, have been met in the spirit of a bold and 
self-sacrificing patriotism. In the local disorders 
of Kansas, upon which my colleague and his 
confederates draw for all the materiel of their 
accusations, denunciations, and disrespectful im- 
putations against the President, I find no act of 
his which is not preeniinently marked by mod- 
eration and devotion to duty. It was his duty to 
remove the officer guilty of malfeasance. It was 
his duty to sustain the government which Con- 
gress had established for Kansas, against rebellion 
and insubordination, until it was superseded by 
State sovereignty legitimately inaugurated; but 
his efforts to this end have been marked by an 
earnest and philanthropic desire to restore p(>ace 
and order by the moral force of the law, and thus 
avoid the bloodshed and anarchy which abolition 
aid societies and reverend panegyrists of Sharpe 'a 
rifles have labored unceasingly to precipitate. Sir, 
the facts acquit the President of every charge, 
and reflect imperishable honor upon his head and 
heart, while they fix ineffaceably the infamy of 
attempting to incite civil and fratricidal war, and 
encouraging treason, upon those who denouncii 
liim. 

Who, sir, has not known — and what patriot 
has not trembled in view of the fact — that the 
slightest misstep, one single imprudent act, one 
incautious v/ord, might in a moment kindle into 
furious flames the insurrectionary spirit engen- 
dered in Kansas by Abolition agitators.' Who 
has not known that the flames once kindled in 
Kansas would sweep eastward, fanned by the 
ravings of fanaticism, like the prairie-fire driven 
by the tornado, involving State at'ter Slate in the 
struggle, in which the Union, its hallowed memo- 
ries and its glorious mission, would be trampled 
under foot and drenched in blood.' 

And who, sir, has sought to avert the calamity.' 
To whom is it due that there are as yet no battle- 
fields in Kansas, where Americans have offered 
up their lives, victims of the fell spirit of treason } 
Is it to those who have sent their emissaries 
throughout the North, summoning the fanatic to 



9 



arms by appeals to prejudice and passion? Is it 
to those who have deriued the Union, treated 
with contempt the power of the Federal Govern- 1 
ment, and desecrated the pulpit by preaching the 
moral efficacy of Sharpe's rifltis and gunpowder? 
Is it to those who ignore constitutions, and fan 
the belligerent spirit of their deluded followers 
by lessons in the " hi^lier law" — placing the 
deadly rifle in their hands, and bidding them use 
it, in God's name and in the name of freedom? 
Is it, sir, to the moderation and patriotism of 
those who on this floor have derided and defied 
the power of the Government, and declared to 
their misguided partisans in Kansas, from this 
Senate Cliamber, " that tlie first federal musket 
fired in defense of law in the Territory wotild 
echo through the valleys of the North, and kindle 
tiie beacon of l^attle upon every mountain ?" Sir, 
are we indebted to these men tliat tiie law is still 
supreme in Kansas? Do we owe it to them that 
tlie fearful crisis has passed, and tlie Union lias 
once^more, as it did in 1850, survived tlie desper- 
ate and combined assaults of its domestic enemies, 
of every hue and color? No, sir; the country 
appreciates their efforts and designs at their just 
value; and it is the consciousness of this fact that 
has infused into their demonstrations so much, 
implacable and revengeful hostility to the Presi- 
dent. It is to him, sir, cooperating, as Cliief 
Magistrate, in executing the will of Congress, 
and thwarting the designs of sectional agitators, 
that we owe the present peace and security. Had 
he yielded to the first premature demand for the 
assistance of United States troops — had he faik^d 
at the proper juncture to assitme the responsi- 
bility, and interpose the Federal arm between the 
belligerents, with the determination to check 
insubordination, to jianish lawlessness, and pro- 
tect either party in their rights under the organic 
act — the designs of the agitators would have been 
accomplished in forcing the issues to the test of 
battle. 

I believe, sir, that the patriotic and conserv-T rive 
men of all parties, in all the States, recognize the 
fact, that the policy of the President in regard to 
Kansas has been dictated by the most earnest 
desire to preserve peace, to do impartial justice, 
and to protect all from outrage and oppression. 
And I believe, sir, thatwhilethe Democratic party 
and the great mass of the conservative and think- 
ing portion of the old Whig party have accepted, 
as republican and constitutional, the doctrine 
of popular sovereignty as enunciated in the Ne- 
braska-Kansas bill, they are also ready to vindi- 
cate the conduct of the President in carrying out 
the law, and grateful to him for the prudence, 
firmness, and impartial justice with which he has 
arrested the dangers that threatened the Union, 
in the practical application of the principle in the 
Territory of Kansas; dangers, I repeat, resulting 
solely from the treasonable machinations of those 
who now so vehemently denounce him as their 
author. But, sir, let his countrymen judge between 
him and his accusers. The facts are bei'ore 
them, and they need no elucidation from me. 

Mr. President, before I take my seat I would 
state that 1 am not a champion of slavery. I 
am in favor of precisely such a constitution as 
that of the State in which I have fixed my home, 
and where I should hope my grave will be made — 
a State of free white men. My choice has been 



made from lessons of experience, obtained by a 
residence in a slave State — as the owner of slaves — 
and bj' a residence almost as long in Wisconsin 
and Iowa, where al! our lalmrers and domestics 
are white men and white women, hired at a price 
agreed upon per week, month, or year. With 
slaves you may have your work done at less di- 
rect pecuniary outlay; but it will not be well 
done — while your mind will be constantly ha- 
rassed by the cares of superintending. The 
white laborer is generally trustworthy, industri- 
ous and intelligent; and,astarmersand gardeners, 
I have usually found them capable of giving 
instead of requiring directions from me. 

My former colleague, General A. C. Dodge, at 
the time when the Kansas and Nebraska bill was 
before the Senate, said, that were he a settler in 
Kansas he would use all his legal powers to make 
it a free State; but if outvoted he would submit 
without a inurnnir. This is my position — this I 
deem to ^t true Americanism — true Republican- 
ism — true Democracy. If the people of Missouri, 
or of any other State have done wrong, I will 
make for them no apology or defense. If the 
full constitutional powm-s of the Executive of the 
Republic are to be called into exercise to maintain 
the law and preserve order, I will support the 
Executive by my vote liere; and, should it become 
necessary, would shed my blood to transmit to 
my children, unimpaired, the glorious legacy left 
us by the fathers of tlie Revolution — the Union 
and the Constitution. 

What, I may be permitted to ask, do my col- 
league and his coadjutors contemplate by their 
warfare on the Administration? Is this warfare 
one of the links in the concatenation of mensures 
by which they mean to effect the abolition of the 
negro's bondage, and to turn loose upon our 
country the entire slave population of the south- 
ern States ? If this be their object, let the inten- 
tion be declared by my colleague, and thus place 
the issue honestly before the people of our State, 
and of the country. 

Before I pass this subject, sir, permit me to 
call the atteution of the Senate to the political 
consistency involved in this effort to magnify the 
evidences of the social, physical, mental, moral, 
and political equality of the races. The whole 
party who rallied to the support of my colleague 
in the Legislature of the Slate of Iowa were the 
self-styled American party. They urged that the 
foreign element of the country threatened to under- 
mine the social system, and overthrow the civil 
Government; and for this alleged reason some of 
their most enlightened statesmen proposed such 
an amendment of the naturalization laws as would 
destroy the influence and votes of this foreign 
element. Without impugning their motives, or 
attempting to show the error of their proceeding, 
I have deemed it proper simply to allude to the 
fact, and leave it to the common sense of the 
people to contrast this proceeding and reasoning 
with the principles and opinions avowed by my 
colleague, and those who act with him upon this 
floor — opinions and principles indirectly, if not 
directly, tending to the turning loose upon society 
nearly four millions of uncultivated and helpless 
negroes — men, women, and children, who, ac- 
cording to the Abolitionists, are of all classes the 
most degraded by their present relations in life, 
and to legislating them into that political equality 



•which they would deny to the white emigrant. 
But, sir, I cannot persuade myself that the most 
ultra Abolitionist who ever occupied a seat in 
this Senate could be so infatuated by his feehngs 
and prejudices as to desire the liberation of the 
slaves of tlie southern States, and be willing to 
meet the liorrible consequences which would fol- 
low — consequences destructive to the peace and 
prosperity of the entire country, and which would 
involve the rapid and certain destruction of the 
black race, after, perhaps, a bloody, servile war, 
in which fertile and productive lands would be 
laid waste, towns and villages burned, and thou- 
sands of men, women, and children slaughtered. 
But, Mr. President, there is one object plainly 
indicated by my colleague, as a motive for tins 
hostility to the Administration, to the principle 
of self-government, secured to the people of the 
Territories by the Kanisas-iVcbraska act, and to 
the Democratic party — the supporters of that 

f)rinciple. The object is made plain by the fol- 
owing extract from his speech: 

"The millions of har(b' laborers of the Nortli and Nortli- 
west, will not live in a slaveliohling community. I need 
not answer why? A thousand reasons are on llieir tongues. 
To you it may seem the result of a sickly sentimentalism. 
To them their conclusions seem to be the result of the clear- 
est reasoning, Bustained by the strongest sense of moral 
duty. If) then, you establish, slavery in the Territories, 
you exclude tliem from tiic enjoyment of this couunon her- 
itage." 

And a little further on he says: 

" I am free to admit tlint I am one of the number practi- 
cally excluded." " On a platform of equality, I have never 
been disposed to shrink from an honorable competition 
with tlie most favored in life's ever recurring conflicts; but, 
Bir, I never will, by act or vote of mine, place myself in a 
condition to struggle for position in social life, with those 
whose slaves are the companions of my daily toils." 

This idea, so horrible to my colleague, of labor- 
ing in a community where negroes are held in 
bondage, has made so strong a lodgment in his 
brain, that he declares that, rather than see his son 
placed in such a situation, he would " prefer to 
see his eyes plucked out and given to the eagles, 
and his heart snatched out and given to the vul- 
tures." 

To me it seems passing strange that the pro- 
found philosophy , and varied learning, and learned 
professions of my colleague have all failed to erad- 
icate from his mind prejudices bo unfounded, so 
marked by ignorance, and which tiiousaiids of 
facts by which he is surrounded should obliterate. 
Why, sir, by a ride into the adjoining county of 
Fairfax, my colleague will learn that the stale 
and almost-worn-out slang of the Abolitionists 
about the degradation of free labor in Territories, 
by admitting slaves, has no foundation save in the 
fertile imaginations of Abolition demagogues. He 
will find in that county hundreds of farmers from 
the non-slavcholding States — from Pennsylvania, 
New Jcr.sey, New York, and from the eastern 
States — intelligent, industrious, and highly re- 
spectable citizens, drawn there by the low price 
at which worn-out farms, with good dwellings and 
out-houses, could be jiurchased. By their supe- 
rior knowledge of agriculture, they nave revived 
the productiveness of their land and made them- 



selves wealthy. Their work is performed by 
themselves and their sons; they own no slaves; 
and yet they are honored, respected, beloved; for, 
bytheirintelligenceandindustry, they have added 
greatly to the prosperity of the county — the price 
of old land having increased in price four-fold 
since they have shown how it could be made 
valuable. Not only in that county, but in every 
direction from this Capitol, my colleague can see, 
if he will but open his eyes, that his prejudices 
have no foundation; he will find the master and 
servant, the master's sons and his servants, work- 
ing in the same field and performing the same 
kind of labor, feeling no degradation by doing 
so, and creating no disrespect intheeyea of their 
neighbors. 

The object of the warfare, then, is to confine 
the master and the slave to worn-out lands, that 
the master may become eventually too poor to 
support the slave, who would gradually perish 
from want — that the master may lose his political 
power, and that the slave States may lose their 
political importance. Tliis is the object — this the 
spirit in which Senators from slaveholding States 
are approached — this the respect shown to sister 
States — thi."* the brotherly love — the national feel- 
ing — the republican magnanimity — exhibited by 
those who now oppose the Democratic party and 
the Administration! Did those brave and good 
men who by their blood secured our liberties, 
and by their purity and wisdom secured the safety 
of our country by forming the Union of the 
States — did these truly great men ever display 
the malignant spirit and feeling which now per- 
vade the party and the men in whose ranks my 
colleague has taken his position.' While the 
memory of Washington, of Marion, of Putnam, 
and Warren is cherished as the common property 
of all the States — while the blood of our revolu- 
tionary fathers is treasured in the nation's soil, 
lot sectional feelings find no sympathy in an 
American Senator's bosom. Sir, if any Senator 
liere wants the negroes freed, let him meet the 
question like a bold man — like Garrison and 
Gerrit Smith; let him not propose to starve out 
the slave population and degrade the States rep- 
resented in this Senate by the patriotic and good 
men by whom I am surrounded. Let him pro- 
pose the abolition of slavery directly, and not 
undermine the interests, the hopes, tlie homes, 
and the families of the citizens of the soutliern 
States. 

I gave my vote for the Kansas-Nebraska bill 
because it left with the people of the Territories 
the right of self-government within the pale of 
the Constitution, and consenuently the right to 
decide upon the question of admitting slaves; and 
I will give all the aid in my power to the President 
in his endeavors to vindicate the settlers' rights. 

Much falsehood and exaggeration have been 
no doubt resorted to by the agents of the emi- 
grant aid societies, in regard to the invasion, as 
It is called, of Kansas, by the '* border rufl'ians" 
of Missouri. Sir, I have never felt any surprise 
at seeing large numbers of men from the counties 
of Missouri (adjacent to Kansas) hastening to 
that Territory immediately on its becoming ac- 
cessible to settlers. Having lived for a number 
of years among the pioneers of the Northwest, I 
know their enterprise and their habits, and I know 
they are the ^rst men who build cabins and turn 



11 



furrows in every new territory opened to the 
settler. When the soil of Iowa was first offered to 
the industry of the farmer or miner, it was in- 
stantaneously occupied by citizens who resided in 
Illinois, Missouri, and Wisconsin, most approx- 
imate to her borders. They hastened to the new 
land, for the purpose of examining it and select- 
ing beautiful and eligible locations, either for 
farms, for mills, or for towns and villages. They 
were some months in advance of the land-seekers 
from the elder sisters of the Union; and when 
these latter came on, they had to take a second 
choice, or pay a liberal price for the claim of the 
pioneer. This same policy and these motives 
induced a vast number of men, young and old, to 
hasten from Missouri to Kansas: they went there 
to make and secure valuable claims, either to oc- 
cupy themselves or to sell. Nor is it singular 
that many of these men, after they had madetheir 
selection, and made the usual improvement to 
secure them, returned to Missouri to pass the 
winter. The same process I have witnessed in 
the early settlement of Missouri, Michigan, Wis- 
consin, and Iowa, in all of which Territories I 
resided before their admission as States; and the 
same will be witnessed in the opening of every 
new Territory to the enterprise of our hardy and 
industrious citizens. 

Permit me, sir, in my endeavor to sustain the 
right of the people of Kansas to decide for them- 
selves this question of admitting slavery within 
their borders, and to be admitted into the Union 
with or without it, as they may elect, to quote the 
language of an old statesman — a man whose 
labors upon this floor the people have witnessed 
for thirty years — Colonel Benton. The quota- 
tion is made from a brief speech in the House of 
Representatives, during the last session, in reply 
to a member from Indiana. He says: 

"The member from Indiana, then, proposes to resist the 
admission, if she has established slavery. This, in ray 
opinion, will be resisting a right ; holding, as I do, that tlie 
State will be entitled to admission — having tlie other re- 
quisites—with or without slavery, as she pleases ; and this 
not by virtue of any act of Congress to that effect, nor even 
by virtue of the Constitution, but by virtue of a right ante- 
rior and superior both to Congress and the Constitution — 
I mean an inherent right of State sovereignty, possessed 
before the Constitution was made, not surrendered to the 
Federal Government when it was made, and therefore re- 
tained by the States." 

On the subject of interference by other States, 
for the purpose of controlling the affairs of Kan- 
sas, and the results of interference, the same 
aged statesman speaks thus: 

" Mr. Chairman, there was crimination and recrimination 
the other day on tliis subject, between tlie member from 
Indiana and my colleague from the northwest district, [Mr. 
Ou VEa.] The member from Indiana charged that citizens 



of Missouri had crossed the line to vote in Kansas at the 
late delegate election ; my colleague retorted that men had 
been sent there by emigrant societies in the East, to control 
the election. I believe both were about right ; and as to 
lliis stimulated emigration, I had my opinion of it at the 
time it was announced, and made known that opinion to 
some members from the eastern States now present, and 
that it would produce precisely the elTect that has been 
seen — rouse and exas|)erate the poopio of the Missouri 
frontier, and lead lo the scenes which have occurred. Why 
did I think so? Because I knew something of human na- 
ture, and that foreign interference is a thing which it will 
not endure. Of this, Missouri has been once before a signal 
instance: At tlie time of the formation of her constitution, 
it was a question among the people whether the constitution 
should be express or silent on ttie subject of slavery. For- 
eign interference decided that question, and occasionnd a 
clause to be introduced prohibiting the Legislature to eman- 
cipate slaves witliout the consent of their owners. I, an 
enemy to the extension of slavery, was a chief promoter of 
that clause ; and why.' Because foreigners, that is, citizens 
of other States, had interfered and agitated the countiy, and 
filled it with a great disturbance; and,for the sake of peace, 
and lo prevent the annual recurrence of such agitations, I 
deemed it best (and that became the opinion of the con- 
vention) to cut up the evil by the root — to take the subject 
away from the Legislature — and consequently to exclude it 
from our elections ; which was done. And the State, under 
that constitutional inhibition, had bi>en free from the slavery 
agitation until canied there in the year 1849, and further 
inflamed by the events of the past year. I was not a mem- 
ber of the convention which framed the constitution, but 
promoted tlie anti-emancipation clause ; and I mention my 
own case particularly that, being opposed to the extension 
of slavery, I yet instigated a provision against emancipation 
to prevent foreigners from coming to agitate us ; and, I verily 
believe, if it had not l)cen for that interference, the consti- 
tution would have been silent on the subject. This is one 
instance of tlie etfect of foreign interference in the same 
State, and on the same subject ; and what is now taking 
place on the western frontier of the State is only a new 
manifestation of the feeling which prevailed in the State in 
the j-ear 1820. And such is human nature, and in all the 
relations of life, both as individuals and communities ; a 
stranger cannot interfere in a family dispute wthout uniting 
the family against him, nor in a State dispute without 
uniting the State against him. Wliat has happened, then, 
in Kansas, was obliged to happen, and was foreseen by 
some and deprecated at the thne. I condemned that society 
emigration at the time ; and there are members now present 
to whom I foretold its bad effects, such as have since been 
seen by everybody. If any emigrants came from the free 
States in the usual way, they would be kindly and respect- 
fully received ; but sent by societies for the purpose of gov- 
erning elections, and they would meet with iU-will and 
opposition." 

I will now withdraw my motion to reconsider. 



■I 

ei6 088 934 2, 



